Washington (CNN) - President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan will meet with President Barack Obama at the White House on Friday, marking his second such meeting with Obama.

The White House said Monday that Obama "looks forward to welcoming the Afghan delegation to Washington, and discussing our continued transition in Afghanistan, and our shared vision of an enduring partnership between the United States and Afghanistan."FULL POST

(CNN) - For all the last-minute wrangling to avoid the potentially damaging consequences of the fiscal cliff, Americans aren't impressed with the solution, according to a new poll.

The Pew Research Center poll out Monday showed 38% of adults approved of the scaled-back deal congressional leaders passed as the calendar rolled into 2013 - after the country, technically, had gone over the cliff.FULL POST

(CNN) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a vocal proponent of tighter gun laws, confirmed Monday he was advising Vice President Joe Biden's task force to help curb gun violence.

"What we've got to do first is try to do everything we can to help Joe Biden," Bloomberg said at a press conference in New York. "We sent some of the people down to Washington, and we had some people on the phone to give Joe Biden our ideas."FULL POST

CNN's GUT CHECK | for January 7, 2013 | 5 p.m.
– n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

STORY OF THE DAY: OBAMA NOMINATES NEW TEAM... President Obama nominates Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense and tapped his chief counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, to become CIA director.

Obama on Hagel: “Chuck Hagel is the leader that our troops deserve. He is an American patriot. He enlisted in the army and volunteered for Vietnam. As a young private and then a sergeant, he served with honor alongside his own brother. When Chuck was hit with shrapnel his brother saved him. When his brother was injured by a mine, Chuck risked his life to pull him to safety. To this day, Chuck bears the scars and the shrapnel from battles he fought in our name.”

Obama on Brennan: “In John Brennan, the men and women of the CIA, have the leadership of one our most skilled and respected intelligence professionals, not to mention that unique combination of smarts and strength that he claims comes from growing up in New Jersey.”

(CNN) - The first New Jersey poll in 2013, the year that Chris Christie's up for re-election, indicates that nearly three-quarters of the state's voters give the tough talking Republican governor the thumbs up.

According to a new Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind survey, 73% of registered voters say they approve of the job Christie's doing as governor. The poll's Monday release comes a day before Christie delivers the annual state of the state address for New Jersey.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Supporters of Chuck Hagel formed an organization to fight back against attacks directed at the former Republican senator, but for now have decided not to launch a political campaign style defense of the new Secretary of Defense nominee.

The pro-Hagel group, Americans for Strategic Leadership, is headed by former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Burt, who has worked alongside Hagel in several foreign policy capacities, confirmed a source close to the group. A representative with Americans for Strategic Leadership would only speak about the group on the condition of anonymity.FULL POST

"In my recent comments criticizing House Republicans for threatening to betray Congress' tradition of providing aid to disaster victims in a timely fashion regardless of region, I simply misspoke," he said in a statement.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Senators and other political figures reacted on Monday to President Barack Obama's nomination of John Brennan, currently his top counterterrorism and homeland security aide, as the next director of the CIA.

Most of the criticism was saved for former Sen. Chuck Hagel, whom Obama nominated for secretary of defense also on Monday.FULL POST